I will be sharing three fiction and three nonfiction titles around a certain theme. The books will be diverse and may deal with the issue in different ways, sometimes rather tangentially. I just thought a theme for the week would be a fun way to tie the books together and to bring different perspectives to a particular topic.
Today's topic is issues of race and class.
Fiction:
Them by Nathan McCall- The story of a young white couple who move into an old and historically black neighborhood in Atlanta, GA.
Four Spirits by Sena Jener Naslund-A fictionalized account of the events and people in Birmingham, AL during the Civil Rights movement in 1963.
Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann-This book contains many stories of the lives of people in New York City who watched a man walk between the Twin Towers on a tight-rope in 1974. They are a broad representation of society, both racially and socio-economically, and their live collide (sometimes literally) in unexpected ways.
Nonfiction:
There Are No Children Here by Alex Kotlowitz- The true account of a pair of brothers who live with their mother in a run-down housing project in Chicago.
Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America by Barbara Ehrenreich- A writer tries to support herself for a year with only minimum wage jobs and shares all the details.
A Hope in the Unseen by Ron Suskind- One of my all time favorites. Suskind follows Cedric Jennings through his last two years of high school in a low-performing inner-city DC high school. Despite the fact that Jennings is gifted, but grossly unprepared, he receives a scholarship to Brown University.
I hope you enjoy today's selections. Please share any other titles you think fit into the topic for today, and share ideas for future themes.
Have a great weekend!
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